Humans are composed of 70% water and individuals need to consume liquids every day in order to prevent dehydration. This is especially important with infants. Infants can lose a significant amount of water through their skin and also through respiration. Any significant loss of fluids is magnified with an elevated temperature or anything else that causes fluid losses from the body. Individuals of all ages consume liquids from containers. The feeding nipples on nursing bottles that infants use contain one or more apertures for liquid delivery. The feeding nipples frequently contain holes or other apertures for liquid delivery which are not exactly as advertised, causing further feeding problems. Some flow formula too freely and others require too much sucking. Both can cause problems for the infant. Apertures very frequently do not dispense at a predictable rate. Dispensing of liquid may be inconsistent, too rapid, or too slow. Delivery of liquid in such inconsistent rates is a problem when the liquid is being delivered to small infants and particularly to very small premature infants.
Frequently, especially with infants and small children, the fluid from the container flows out too quickly and leads to choking or spilling liquid on themselves. If an infant uses a nipple that releases liquid too quickly then the infant can choke or even aspirate the liquid. This may lead to pneumonia or suffering other medical sequela. Occasionally, the individual may want to consume liquid at a faster flow rate. However, because the aperture of the dispensing mechanism is too small this may not be possible. If a dispenser delivers a liquid too slowly, then the user, particularly an infant, can suck so vigorously that air is ingested into the gastrointestinal tract from around the dispenser or nipple during sucking, with adverse results.
If a nipple being used is found to be unsatisfactory, then the nipple must be changed and feeding has to be tried again. This process may have to be repeated a few times until a nipple having a desired flow rate is obtained. In addition, infants also require changed feeding speeds frequently as they grow, and this can only be done through changing of nipples, on the nursing bottles, through a trial and error practice. The current disclosure obviates this procedure. A common problem associated with the use of a nipple is the nipple collapsing during use or sucking by the infant. Nipple collapse does not occur during breast feeding. However, nipple collapse with use of an artificial nipple can impede feeding and be frustrating for the infant. Also, the nipple may easily be compressed, which results in the dispenser becoming unusable. If a container spout is being used, one or more new containers have to be obtained and tried. If an adult is using a sports bottle with the typically vertically adjustable spout, the bottle has to be removed from the mouth and readjusted until the rate of flow of the liquid becomes satisfactory.
Infants feed much more easily and efficiently when breast feeding. It is also known that use of the applicant's vented continuously positive pressure bottles can feed an infant similar to breast feeding. There are several reasons for this. It is known that breast milk is ejected with a positive pressure. This is why women have to wear breast pads in-between feedings. The applicant's bottles provide the feeding liquid with a positive pressure during the entire feeding process.
Currently, different sized holes in feeding nipples and various slits and combinations of slits are used to allow the release of feeding liquid. There are numerous problems encountered with these arrangements. When current nipples and apertures are used, the flow characteristics of the nipple cannot be modified or adjusted by the infant. Further, producing nipples having a uniformly very small aperture is extremely difficult. Also, of note, is that the current slits present in some nipples, which are called “cereal nipples” or “juice nipples,” exhibit an inconsistent pattern. The flow may be significantly too rapid with the slits orientated in one direction. When the slits are orientated in another direction, there is frequently no flow. This is a particularly significant problem with newborns and smaller infants because they require controlled and controllable flow rates. If the flow is too rapid, then they can choke, gag, and aspirate the liquid. On the other hand, if the flow is too slow, then they do not obtain enough nourishment. This causes infant and caregiver frustration and should be avoided.
The flow rate provided by these nipples is unphysiological for multiple reasons. Normally breast milk is ejected from the breast with a positive pressure and is under the control of the infant during feeding. This is demonstrated during feeding and all other times, since women frequently have to wear breast pads to remain dry. All of the known nipples have a negative pressure and dispensers do not ever allow the infant to control the flow. The liquid is regulated by the negative pressure of the container and the size of the aperture in the nipple.
In addition, breast milk, which is an extremely valuable commodity, and formula, which is very expensive, are both sensitive and subject to nutritional breakdown, especially over time and if exposed to unphysiological amounts of elements, such as air. In particular, air that is allowed into a container may degrade Vitamins C, A, E, and lipids, and may affect other essential components of nutrition. The contamination of the liquid through one or more holes also introduces air into the liquid, the stomach, and the rest of the gastrointestinal tract, which may lead to gas, bloating, vomiting, colic, fussiness, and other infant maladies. Also, nipple confusion may easily occur typically due to collapsing nipples, excessive sucking pressures needed by the infant, air entrainment through and around the nipple, vacuum not relieved by the nipple arrangement, irregular and unregulated fluid flow, and other etiologies.
With known prior art unphysiological nipples and other dispensers, along with their containers, a large vacuum must be generated in the oral cavity of the infant and that vacuum must be transmitted to the nipple of the container. The need to generate this large vacuum is another nonphysiological aspect of the known bottles and nipples. This can cause abnormal mouth, including tooth, development, and ear and hearing problems with their attendant developmental delays, and also ear fluid and infections.
When a fully vented container is used, in order to simulate normal breast physiology, and a positive pressure is present in the container, fluid is released similarly to the breast, for the first time. Since there is a positive pressure, but no sphincters, as are present in normal breast milk ducts, to regulate the flow of liquid, the fluid exits the container very quickly, even when small holes are used in the nipple. Historically, these holes were lased, punched, and molded into the nipple. However, a hole that was imprecise very frequently resulted in feeding times that were significantly too long. Further, if the hole was too large then the infant might choke on the feeding liquid. The liquid may even dispense so quickly as to pour out of the mouth. Also, the orientation of the nipple and the bottle may change during feeding and result in very slow feeding in one position and very rapid feeding in another position or even change during feeding in the same position. This is obviously very frustrating, uncontrollable, and unphysiological. To compensate, the hole was purposefully made too small in an effort to reduce the flow to the infant so that the infant did not receive too much liquid at any time. This problem occurs with all dispensers, for all ages, but is exponentially worse with smaller infants due to their extremely small oral cavities. In light of that, manufacturers frequently made one hole and a smaller drip rate than desired for use. This resulted in feedings frequently lasting more than forty-five minutes, which is much longer than normal breast feeding. Another problem encountered with fully vented containers is that of forceful streams of liquid coming out of the container. This stream of fluid can easily choke an infant, especially if placed in the center of the nipple or dispenser, where it can easily be aspirated and cause medical problems, especially in the infant. Also, the infant cannot squeeze the feeding nipple like the nipple of the breast, in a variable pattern, and control the flow of liquid from the breast in a predictable manner.
When breast feeding, the infant can put pressure on the milk ducts in the breast and can generate a physiologically small amount of negative pressure in the mouth when more milk is needed. The milk ducts of the breast and the nipple will release more milk due to these negative pressures generated by the infant. However, present nipples do not allow for any regulation of the flow of liquid through a feeding nipple by the infant.
Bottles are frequently squeezed and turned upside down by infants, at all ages, and can cause a mess. This is due to the holes that are currently used in the nipples. A dispenser that does not leak or cause a mess would be desirable.
The present disclosure is designed to obviate and overcome many of the disadvantages and shortcomings experienced with prior nipple dispensing devices. The present disclosure is related to a user controllable noncollapsible variable stream physiological dispenser for use with a bottle. It would be desirable and advantageous to have a nipple dispenser that does not collapse during use. It would also be beneficial to have a nipple dispenser that can be used with a vented container to prevent any air from contaminating the liquid or formula stored in the container.